Blacks At Microsoft (BAM) hosted its 14th Annual Minority Student Day on the Microsoft Corp. campus Friday were a swarm of more than 350 Black and brown high school students interested in college scholarships, mentors and careers in the high-technology industry flocked to see and hear what Microsoft had to offer and find out who won the five thousand dollars in scholarships for the essay on teens and technology. Chief Executive Officer at Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, made the keynote address, answered some tough questions from the students and handed out thousands of dollars in scholarships and laptop computers. “Nobody can afford to ignore computers,” he said, adding, “There won’t be any jobs anywhere in the world were you won’t have to be comfortable with computers.” Ballmer said that Microsoft gives out $400,000 in scholarships and advised the students to apply for them. Before shouting out his support for Rainier Beach High School’s basket ball team to beat Seattle Prep that night for the Metro title – which they didn’t. Through BAM, twenty thousand dollars in tuition grants is being made available to each of the four locations where they host Minority Student Day, in Washington, Texas, California and Charlotte, N.C., and according to Tami Begasse, a corporate communications manager at Microsoft, “an additional twenty thousand dollars” is being added to the scholarship pool this year. BAM’s three Washington (Teens + Technology = Success) Minority Student Day essay contest winners were: 1st place Roosevelt High School freshman $2,500 tuition grant winner Yusuf Beshir; 2nd place, Intel Computer Club House $1,500 winner Jalessa Trapp; and 3rd place Roosevelt High School senior, $1,000 tuition grant recipient Steve Vinueza. First place winner Beshir got a tablet PC too. BAM Minority Student Day provides minority high school students information, tools, resources, career opportunities available and mentors in the information technology field. The scholarship program gives out the two new $2,500 grants each year and the deadline for application is March 31, 2005 or email bamschol@microsoft.com. And the April 15, 2005 BAM 1st Annual Job Shadow Day, offering students the opportunity to share and experience a day in the life of a Microsoft employee, deadline is March 11th. BAM was founded in 1989 and has more than 500 global members and active volunteers invested in the growth and development of their local communities The BAM scholarship program, established in 1992 and funded by members, connects students with BAM members for mentoring throughout their college careers. Along with providing high-school internships, scholarships and outreach programs, BAM has made a long-term commitment to bridging the “digital divide” by ensuring that minorities have access to computer technology, supporting higher education and career development for youth through partnerships and outreach aimed at increasing the pipeline of diverse future employees for the technology industry, and support groups like SISTAS for African American female technology employees to discuss career development, families and wellness. (more) BAMAdd-2 And through an Unlimited Potential initiative, Microsoft provides cash, software and curriculum resources to community technology learning centers across the United States. For college support Microsoft offers $280,000 in scholarships each year to students of “underrepresented” backgrounds and the company also supports local organizations such as the Technology Access Foundation (TAF) which “prepares underserved students of color for success in a technology-driven world,” and the Yesler Learning Center that offers free or low-cost access to computers and technology skills training. Microsoft has also partnered with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America to help create ClubTech, a place for young people to learn to use technology. Rotary Boys and Girls Club executive director, Patrick Carter, said that she wants the Rotary to be known for its technology and curriculum and not just for basketball. She talked about their computers program at the Alder Street facility where students get to learn to build their own computers and take them home. “You can take fifty dollars at our club and go home with a thousand dollar computer,” she said, also admonishing the students, “Stand tall but not so tall that you can’t reach back and help somebody.” Students attended the Minority Day from Seattle schools as well as Tacoma, Renton and other locations. “I’ve been wanting to come for two years,” said Cleveland sophomore, Jasmine Madison, who was sitting patiently with a gang of her female student peers waiting to get instructions for lunch. “I wanted to get a mentor for biology, plus I need help scholarship-wise,” she said. “Right now my grades are low in biology because I don’t understand it.” All of the Microsoft speakers on the panel, including a software licensing attorney and a human resources person and a game developer, who addressed the attentive, well behaved students, emphasized the importance of math and the sciences. Generally the students expressed interests in seeking scholarships and internships. But some students wanted to know more. In the panel question and answer session, Jomiah Price from the Intel Computer Club in Tacoma asked what to do if she wanted to work at Microsoft but didn’t know what she wanted to do as a career. “Follow your interests,” said Loren Gardner, who as human resources employee said she “on-boards and exits” employees, adding, “Even if you don’t like it get through your math.” A student from the Computer Clubhouse in Tacoma, Simone Gates-Wiggins, asked if panel members/employees were thinking about working for Microsoft when they were in college. (more) BAMAdd-3 “If you go to college you will be exposed to a lot of [different] things. You can’t go wrong if you go to college,” they agreed. But it seemed one student nailed the panel’s feet to the floor when she asked how they [students] could be sure their jobs wouldn’t be “out-sourced.” Their advice was to “stay up to date on technology, continue to grow, and broaden their knowledge and management skills.” BAM President, Delanda Sydney, reminded the students that CEO Ballmer had given them his email address and she exploded with enthusiasm encouraging them to use it. “Do you understand what just happened?” she said. (end) BAM David Bash 2/11/05